


Old Friends

by FridgeWitch



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Other, Peter Needs a Hug, and I miss Karen okay??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 08:12:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19786840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FridgeWitch/pseuds/FridgeWitch
Summary: “Hey, EDITH?”“Yes, Peter?”Peter fumbled with the temples of EDITH’s interface glasses, sliding the frame back and forth against his ear, almost in a rocking motion. It was repetitive, comforting.“You’re great and all, but...” He thought for a moment how best to phrase his thoughts.“Can I talk to Karen?” he asked finally





	Old Friends

“Hey, EDITH?”

“ _Yes, Peter?_ ”

Peter fumbled with the temples of EDITH’s interface glasses, sliding the frame back and forth against his ear, almost in a rocking motion. It was repetitive, comforting.

“You’re great and all, but...” He thought for a moment how best to phrase his thoughts. 

“Can I talk to Karen?” he asked finally.

“ _Which Karen?_ ” EDITH replied. “ _There are several dozen within the surrounding city blocks. Are you looking for Karen Broadchild, Karen Flemming, Karen-_ ”

“No, no,no, no,” Peter stammered, taking his grip off the glasses and waving his hands emphatically. “None of those Karens.”

“ _I can broaden the search field if you’d like._ ”

“No, no. Um, thank you, though. I was looking for...” He trailed off again, feeling more childish than he had allowed himself to in quite a while. It seemed silly to ask, but after recent events, he was looking for a little bit of reassurance, wherever he could find it. “Karen is- well, she’s the lady in my suit. Not THIS suit, obviously, not my current one, but, ah, a few suits back. She’s the A.I. Mr. Stark put in the first suit he built me.” Peter’s hands found their way to the glasses again, gripping the hinges as if to steady himself.

“She was supposed to help train me with all of the suit’s functions. I kinda... hacked my suit and got to her before I was supposed to- it was bad, I know, I shouldn’t have done that, but-” He heaved a short, sharp sigh. “ She was really nice. And a good listener, and...” Another sigh, softer this time. 

“And I miss her. Can I talk to her, please?”

“ _Searching Stark Artificial Intelligence Database_ ,” EDITH chirped. A wave of blue pixelated light washed across Peter’s eyes as the glasses kicked into gear. Snippets of data, file names and dates of entry, flashed across the lenses as EDITH hunted. After a moment, there was only one file remaining on screen. “ _Here you are_ ,” the A.I. said proudly.

Peter read the file name. “Really, Mr. Stark?” he groaned. In all caps, in the middle of his field of view, the word BABYSITTER hovered ominously. Or embarassingly. Beneath it though, he noticed, there was a subtitle attached, in parentheses. (Karen). His could feel the glossiness in his eyes already, and the heat from his cheeks rising to meet them.

“ _Would you like to run this program?_ ” EDITH asked.

“Yes, please,” Peter replied, gripping the glasses tighter. “I would like that a lot.”

The text on screen glowed briefly to confirm the selection, then dissipated, leaving only the lenses’ normal blue tint against the backdrop of a decidedly not-so-normal world. For a moment there was nothing. Then a gentle voice chimed in.

“ _Hi again, Peter._ ”

He couldn’t fight his body anymore- a single, thin teardrop rolled its way down his cheek. There would almost certainly be more to follow.

“Hey, Karen.” He released his grip on the frames, pressing his palms against the side of his head in relief. He drew a shaky breath.

“Man, we have a lot of catching up to do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading! I just got back from Spiderman: Far from Home and had to get this out of my system. Hope you enjoy!


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